eNewsletter: March, 2016

eNewsletter – March, 2016

John Balcom: Best Fit Line

TPC 2016 R1 includes a new Fit Horizontal Line routine. Tie any number of points that reference a line and TPC will create the best fit line using one of three methods.

Least Squares – This is a minimally constrained solution, so the end point of the line can vary as needed to create the best fit. Once the line is computed, TPC computes the end points of the line so that they are as close a possible to the first and last selected points.

Fixed Bearing – Compute the best fit line at a fixed bearing. If you are fitting a boundary line that is parallel to a road center line, this would be just the ticket.

Pass Through Point – Compute the best fit line that passes through an existing survey point. If you have a good corner at either end of the line, you can constrain the best fit line to pass through it.

Summary – The summary displays the most recent best fit line computation in the Report View. TPC provides information about the points that were selected, the best fit line that was computed and the offsets of each of the selected points from the best fit line.

Mark Lull: Learning Guides

We are making some changes to the Learning Guides and want to let you know what’s coming.

On-Line – All the learning guides are available on-line. In fact, if you select a learning guide from the Tasks manager, TPC looks to see if you have installed the learning guides along with the program. If not, TPC opens the on-line version of the selected learning guide in your web browser. The advantage to you is 1) you get the latest version of the learning guide you selected and 2) you didn’t have to install them (a separate step).

Import / Export – We adding an Import / Export learning guide. We posted it with the chapters that we had completed and will re-post when we have it finished. With the recent introduction of LandXML and KML/KMZ files to TPC, many of you have requested help with the basic steps of importing and exporting these formats. This learning guide will be a big help to you.

Mobile Versions – And of course, we will continue to provide the mobile versions of each of the learning guides.

We continue to work hard to make TPC fun and easy to use. Whether you prefer to watch the videos, read through the help topics or open a learning guide, we want you to have the tools you need in the format you like best.

Mark Lull, Technical Support

Oliver Bochsler: Better By Design

Here at Traverse PC, we’ve use the slogan, “Better By Design”, for a lot of years. We use it to talk about the traverses and views that are such an integral part of how TPC works. But we also kick the same slogan around when we tackle the little design changes that just make TPC work better. Some are new little things we add and others are real bugs that don’t work as expected.

With TPC 2016, we focused on a number of these little design issues. We’ve been rolling them out over the past two months as versions 2016.0.1 through 16.0.9. If you’ve received the automatic update notifications, go ahead and run the update. Here’s a little peek at what you’ll get.

Implemented Maximize and Minimize buttons in CAD View.

Survey objects in drawings can now be translated and rotated along with the survey data via COGO

In Predetermined Area, the Remainder can now be computed by itself, without the Area

Snap, break, trim and intersect now work with drawn arcs that have a delta > 180°

Point symbols exported to CAD files now retain their TPC color (currently in the Hot Fix download)

When moving the mouse out of the drawing area in the drawing view, TPC stops any current scrolling (panning) operation.

Added a Yes / Cancel prompt when opening a recovery (backup) survey

Not all blocks got sent from CAD View to Drawing View. Fixed

Least Squares resection was not working. Fixed

Expanded support for unusual drawing codes like “FE .BL,8.6 QS” where only .BL should be a drawing code and .6 should not

Fixed a possible crash when removing a surface border from the Traverse Manager or adding surface border points to a new traverse

Found out why drawing text font would sometimes change when loading a survey and fixed it

As you read down the list, you might find an item that will make TPC better for you. Just remember, it’s by design.

Oliver Bochsler, Software Development

Eric Tanikawa: TPC Connection Offer

TPC 2016 R0 shipped last January and 2016 R1 (agile release 1) is coming in May.

Normally, agile releases are available only to TPC Connection members. So if you are not on the Connection, you won’t get the R1 stuff until you update to TPC 2017 – next year. But we want you to have everything listed below without the long wait. So for a limited time, get 6 months of the TPC Connection with TPC 2016 R0. That means you get everything in 2016 R0 right now and everything coming in 2016 R1 when it ships.

Life with Traverse PC

Traverse PC has provided land surveying software since 1987. We offer point-based software for managing your land survey data and Quick View™ technology for your drawings.

We're not CAD! And don't want to be! Because CAD simply can't do land surveying like Traverse PC does. It just works Better than CAD and is always CAD friendly!

You'll also find all the standards like COGO, traverse closure and adjustments, coordinate transformations, DTM, least squares, profiles and more. Plus,the necessities like GIS / DWG / DXF / DGN / PDF / Data Collector interfaces so you can get your data from anywhere and share it with anyone! Now with Geodetics and Cadastral tools with PLSS built in.